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From smartphone apps that tell you how healthy your food is to
wristbands that track your activity and sleeping patterns,
technology is increasingly making living healthier easier. With
the importance of employee health emphasized, one trend is
quickly catching on among HR departments as a way to encourage
employees to get fit: wearable wellness.

According to ABI Research, 13 million wearable devices will be
integrated into corporate-wellness plans over the next five
years. Encouraging employees to use wearable fitness devices,
such as Jawbone’s UP 24 activity tracker, Nike’s FuelBands or
Fitbits, to track their movement, sleep and eating habits and
share their accomplishments with their colleagues can motivate
your entire office to lead a healthier office, resulting in less
sick days, lower health insurance premiums and higher
productivity.

Aron Susman, co-founder of The SquareFoot, a Houston, Texas-based
company that connects landlords with businesses searching for
space, provided his 11 employees with Jawbone UP bands. (Seven
opted into the program.) “We decided to provide them after I
got one as a gift. I really got into it and quickly integrated
it into my lifestyle,” he says.

For Susman, quantifying his movements gave him the motivation
need to stay active. “I set my goal at 8,000 steps a day and felt
really good at achieving that goal,” he says. “On a lazy Sunday,
where I might normally binge-watch TV, I didn’t want to see zero
steps, so I get up and go for a walk or a run.”

Wearable technology allows users to track their steps, physical
activity, sleep patterns and even food consumption. Users can set
alerts to remind them to stand up after long periods of sitting,
or drink more water throughout the day. They also allow users to
connect with each other and form teams.

Providing UP bands for all employees was a way of showing them
the company cares about their physical well-being and has helped
The SquareFoot stand out as an employer. Incorporating wearable
wellness into health programs can be a selling point when trying
to attract and retain talent. “It is a totally different type of
investment than paying for a gym membership because it becomes a
talking point in the office. It also shows you are willing to try
new things and create a team over and beyond just professional
responsibilities,” says Susman.

Alan Kohll, founder and CEO of TotalWellness, which works with employers
to implement programs that improve employees’ health and
wellness, says wearable devices are a valuable tool to improve
employee health and productivity. Here, he shares his tips on
how to integrate wearable wellness in your corporate wellness
program:

1. Create fun team challenges. Wearable devices
allow users to form teams and work together towards a common
goal. This not only improves employee motivation to use their
devices, but has a positive impact on overall office morale.
Kohll has seen team challenges such as hitting 10,000 steps per
day or monthly goals such as 5 million steps a month.

If you have two offices, one in New York and one in California,
for example, a challenge that involves the number of steps to get
from one office to another can be a fun way to connect employees
across the country. Employees can send out messages to motivate
each other towards the common goal of improving their health,
which not only results in an improvement in employee well-being,
but greater productivity and a better work environment where team
members feel supported.

2. Provide incentives to participate.
Reducing health premiums for individuals who participate in using
their fitness trackers is one way to encourage participation,
although Kohll says the team challenges can provide a better
opportunity to dole out incentives that speak to employees. He
encourages managers to conduct a survey to find out what
employees really value. “It could be having more flexibility in
their job, working a day from home or paid time off,” he says.

3. Make wearable devices part of company
culture. One of the great selling points of wearable
devices is that users can build in reminders to buzz the wearer
if they’ve been idle for too many hours. Making it OK for
employees to take a walking break outdoors and encouraging them
to get up regularly to stretch or do some push-ups supports the
use of these devices.

Making employees’ information public by putting up a leader board
in the main lobby can encourage water-cooler chat about
coworkers’ progress and shows that the company believes in
fitness tracking. “It increases engagement and makes people more
likely to participate,” says Kohll.

4. Don’t force participation. Accept that
not everyone will jump on the bandwagon of wellness. Making the
devices available to everyone, hosting team challenges and making
them part of the company’s culture are great ways to encourage
individuals to participate, but Kohll says these devices aren’t
for everyone and shouldn’t be forced upon employees. “They can be
great for individuals who are interested in making changes to
their health behaviour but need that extra push, but they aren’t
for everyone,” he says.